Black Sea Grain Initiative, DRC, Myanmar & other…

The Secretary-General arrived today in Algiers, where he was received at the airport by Ramtane Lamamra, the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.  

The UN Secretariat at the Joint Coordination Centre reports that the Ukrainian, Turkish and United Nations delegations agreed not to plan any movement of vessels in the Black Sea Grain Initiative for tomorrow 2 November. 
 
Our partners in Ukraine tell us they are building a new centre to house internally displaced people in western Chernivetska oblast. 

Today, in Madrid, the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, visited the IE university, with which several UN agencies have signed cooperation agreements in recent years to advance sustainable development.   

We have an update from our peacekeeping colleagues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as fighting continues between the M23 armed group and Congolese national armed forces, particularly around Rutshuru in North Kivu. 

Turning to Mali, over the past two months, our peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA, undertook jointly with national authorities a series of field visits to the northern regions – from Timbuktu to Kidal, via Gao and Ménaka – to assess and raise awareness on the disarmament, demobilization and reinsertion and integration processes.  

Our colleagues at the Peacekeeping Mission in the Central African Republic welcome the first verdict of the Special Criminal Court against three members of the armed group 3R. 

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime today released a survey which says that opium cultivation in Afghanistan this year increased by 32 per cent, with prices for this commodity soaring even as the country is gripped by humanitarian and economic crises 

In Myanmar, our team is concerned that ongoing hostilities continue to endanger the safety of civilians. 

I just want to flag that today the International Maritime Organization has new regulations entering into force that will require ships to improve their energy efficiency in the short term and thereby reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. 

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, will brief the UN Security Council on global displacement, looking at refugee operations around the world, and the importance of addressing root causes of forced displacement especially through heightened international efforts to prevent and resolve conflict.